For this [is] acceptable, if one, for conscience sake towards God, endure griefs, suffering unjustly.
A hard master. An unjust punishment. A Christian who has done nothing wrong. That is the situation Peter puts before us. Peter says that something in that moment is precious to God. Older translations call it "thankworthy". The ESV calls it "a gracious thing".
Peter is writing to household servants. The point turns on the master a believer may have to serve.
Household servants are told to obey their masters with fear on every side. They were Christians, and had to serve many a master where the danger of being provoked was extreme. So they needed to walk in complete respect. For according to Christ, their godly obedience was owed not only to the good and gentle masters, but also to the crooked or bad-tempered ones — and that last kind was common.
Nothing in the master's behaviour cancels the instruction.
But, as this scripture shows, the duty to obey has nothing to do with the master's character. To forget this is to forget that you serve the Lord Christ. It also means falling into the sin of working only when watched, as people-pleasers, instead of as "the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; serving willingly, as to the Lord, and not to men."
The ESV says "mindful of God". Other translations read "for conscience toward God". Either way, the phrase gives the reason for the suffering. It also marks the one limit on obeying a master.
I may suffer for conscience' sake. A master may order something that goes against God. Then, of course, we must obey God rather than man. Obedience to God is the first thing — the great ruling principle of the Christian's life.
So the servant obeys and refuses in the same spirit.
The servant, while subject, is to keep a good conscience before God by refusing to do evil. This may lead to suffering unjustly. If it does, let the believer remember that to "do well", "suffer for it", and "take it patiently" is acceptable to God.
Kelly translates the word as grace. His rendering reads: "For this is grace if for conscience toward God one endures griefs, suffering unjustly… but if when you do well and suffer you shall endure, this is grace with God" (1 Peter 2:19-20, William Kelly). Another writer keeps the older word "thankworthy" and shows the warmth in it.
after_note: DELETE_NOT_APPLICABLE
If you do right, get harsh words for it, and take it patiently, you put God in your debt, so to speak. He says "Thank you" to you. How beautiful! Suppose you do good, suffer for it, and take it patiently, and your master never thanks you. Never mind. A surprise is coming later. God has a "Thank you" for you, for this beautiful display of patience in the hardest circumstances.
Peter's next verse removes a false comfort. Pain we brought on ourselves is a different thing.
Look at this child of God. He has to be disciplined for his faults and beaten; his Father has to strike him. He is not suffering for doing well, but for sin. No wonder if he takes it patiently. He has no business to suffer for sin. "Christ has once suffered for sin, the just for the unjust that He might bring us to God." Our God loves us too much to spare us the suffering if we need it for our faults. But let us make sure our suffering is for righteousness.
Even right suffering comes in degrees. One writer says suffering for conscience' sake "has the character of righteousness". Suffering insults for Christ's own sake he calls "a higher thing" (W. T. P. Wolston).
Such endurance is not natural strength. Kelly names what makes it possible.
They were to serve the Lord Christ in the spirit of grace, not merely in self-denial. No matter how worthless their masters might be, grace lifts the soul above the most bad-tempered master. It enables the servant to obey and to suffer, even in the face of shameless wrong.
That also explains why God allows the situation at all.
In a life of patient suffering for doing good, God sees the life of Christ put on display. This explains many of the hard circumstances a Christian may find himself in. God allows them so that we have the chance to show the excellencies of Christ, for His pleasure and our final glory.
- Grace given. Kelly translates "thankworthy" as grace. The power to endure comes from that same grace. It lifts the soul above the hardest master.
- Grace guarded. "Conscience toward God" gives both the motive and the limit. Obey the master, but obey God first when the two clash.
- Grace tested. Suffering for your own faults earns no credit; the verse covers only the one who does well and suffers for it.
- Grace displayed. God permits these hard places so the life of Christ can be seen in a believer's patience.
- Grace rewarded. The master may never say thank you; God does, and the thanks He gives is worth waiting for.
For what glory [is it], if sinning and being buffeted ye shall bear [it]? but if, doing good and suffering, ye shall bear [it], this is acceptable with God.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
For to this have ye been called; for Christ also has suffered for you, leaving you a model that ye should follow in his steps
Peter first wrote these words to household servants with harsh masters. He told them their unjust suffering was no accident but their calling — which raises two questions: what "example" has Christ left, and how far can anyone follow a path that ends at the cross?
These first readers had almost no rights and no way to answer back. Why do such people get words like these?
The instruction after that goes to the servants — those Jewish believers who were slaves. They get the choicest words of all. God knows that His own beloved Son had been on earth as a servant, here not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. They were in the blessed position to "follow in His steps." But the instruction does not mean servants or slaves only. It is written for all believers.
Suffering for doing right is not a sign that something has gone wrong. It ties the sufferer to Christ Himself.
"If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours." It is hard, no doubt about it. Yet how great is the moral honour of being linked with Christ like this! "For to this you have been called." God allowed it, overruled it, and used it for the good of His children here below.
The Greek word behind "example" comes from the schoolroom.
When a Greek schoolboy was learning to write his Alpha, Beta, Gamma, his teacher gave him a "hupogrammos." He had to copy it to learn how to form his letters.
That choice of word rules out settling for a second-best model. Other passages hold up an apostle as a pattern; this one does not.
Remarkably, the word "example" here is found nowhere else. It means a "copy or underwriting." It is not the word the Apostle used when he told the saints at Philippi to join in imitating him and to "keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us." Nor is it the word he used when he urged his son Timothy to "set the believers an example." In those cases the word means a "type"; here it means a "copy." Our Lord Jesus Christ is the standard, and no lower one will do.
Christ suffered in two ways. Only one of them is open to us.
"Christ also suffered for you" — there He stood alone. No one but He could take our place under the judgment we deserved, or endure its awful sentence to the end, when for our sake God "made Him to be sin." But besides making atonement in death, He left us an example. Here He is not alone. Every one of His loved and blood-bought people should follow His steps.
The order matters. Copying Christ is not the way in. It is what comes after.
He suffered an atoning death on the cross. Without it there could be no example. Sin has to be dealt with first, and a righteous relationship with God set up. Then the example comes in.
Scripture records what Christ said and did. That record, not our imagination, is the safe guide.
The great trap to watch out for is following your own ideas while wrongly thinking they are the footsteps of Christ. That is almost certain to happen if, when you reach a hard point, you ask yourself, "What would Jesus do?" How can you know what He would do in your situation? It would be better to ask, "What has He said?" or "What did He do?" Then you would find a dependable answer in the Bible.
So what do the steps look like? They are the steps of the one Person who never failed.
The saint needs an object from God to form our souls and fashion our ways. And He sets before us Christ. What or who can compare with Him? Flaws were in the best of saints at their best — think of Peter, Paul, John. Christ always did the things that pleased His Father. He never once did any will but His Father's. He was the lowliest of men, yet above the highest. Nothing is as lowly as obedience, and nothing is as pure and morally uplifting as always obeying God.
- Cross first. Without the atoning death there is no example to copy; sin must be dealt with before imitation can begin.
- Called next. Suffering while doing good is not a breakdown. It is the calling itself, shared with a rejected Master.
- Copy given. "Example" is the schoolteacher's copy line to trace over, and Christ is the standard — no lower one will do.
- Copy studied. Follow what Scripture records He said and did, not private guesses about what He would do.
- Copy limited. He bore the judgment alone; in patient suffering He is not alone — every one of His people is to walk there.
who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth;
Peter writes to household servants with harsh masters, and he points them to a Man who suffered worse and deserved none of it. His words echo the prophet's picture of the suffering Servant, and they raise a question: why point to a spotless life when people are suffering unfairly?
Peter aims these words at slaves in believing homes, but the lesson is not for them alone. One writer explains why servants receive the choicest words of all.
The instruction that follows is for the servants — that is, for those Jewish believers who were slaves. God gives them the choicest words, knowing that His own beloved Son had been on earth as a servant... But the instruction is not only for servants or slaves; it is written for all believers... And what an example has He left for us? He was the holy, spotless Son of God. He could not suffer for His own sins, because He was spotless. Yet He suffered.
Peter puts the example in a negative form: not what to do, but what not to do. One writer, using the older wording "did no sin," shows why that is harder than doing good.
First, we are reminded that He "did no sin"... Here, however, the exhortation takes a negative form; we are to follow His steps in this respect that He did no sin. Whatever happens, whatever circumstances may arise... whatever insults we may have to endure, we are to do no sin. It is fairly easy to do good as a benefactor, meeting the needs of others. But we still have the flesh in us, and at times it is hard to do no sin. It is a greater thing to do no sin in trying circumstances than to do good in easy ones... It is better to suffer wrong than sin; better to lose your coat than let go the character of Christ.
The verse now moves from what He did to what He said. One writer explains the word, and where else it appears.
The New Testament often translates this word as "guile." It means cunning, craftiness, plotting to deceive, and it usually has to do with a person's words. There was no guile found in the mouth of Christ (1 Peter 2:22)... But it was by guile that the Jewish council sought to arrest Jesus and put Him to death (Matt. 26:4; Mark 14:1).
That is where most of us slip: kind words hiding an unkind motive.
No matter how hard wicked men pressed Him, no question He asked, no answer He gave, no word that fell from His lips ever carried a trace of guile. Sadly, malice and envy sometimes lurk in us behind words that are "smoother than butter" and "softer than oil." With Him, no evil motive ever hid under fair speech. Guile lurked behind the apparently innocent question of the religious Pharisees when they asked "Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not?" for we read they were seeking to "entangle Him in His talk."
The prophet pairs violence with deceit, and Peter keeps the pair. One writer traces each of the two back to its root.
Again the prophet bears witness: on the one hand, "He had done no violence"; on the other, "there was no deceit in His mouth." Violence comes from the abuse of power; deceit is the resource of weakness. In the Lord there could be neither. The perfect trial was nothing but a perfect display of supreme excellence.
Peter's statement is about what Christ did and said. One writer sets two other verses beside it, and shows what hangs on them.
"He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth" (1 Peter 2:22). No one could accuse Him of sin in deed or word. Many a man sins in word while he holds back from sinful deeds. Many a man holds back from outward acts of sin, yet his mind and thoughts are sinful and evil, even when he never turns them into action. "In Him is no sin" (1 John 3:5); "Who knew no sin" (2 Cor. 5:21), proves that our Lord was as pure inwardly as He was irreproachable outwardly. If there had been any flaw in Him outwardly or inwardly He could not have been our Saviour.
- Setting — Peter writes to servants under harsh masters, but the call reaches every believer who suffers for doing right.
- Deeds — "He committed no sin" marks the step to follow: not doing good when it is easy, but doing no wrong when others wrong us.
- Words — guile is craftiness dressed as fair speech; under hostile questioning, not one word of His carried it.
- Range — the prophet pairs violence with deceit, the sin of power and the sin of weakness; neither was in Him.
- Result — the spotlessness we copy is the spotlessness that qualifies Him as Saviour; without it there is neither example nor rescue.
who, [when] reviled, reviled not again; [when] suffering, threatened not; but gave [himself] over into the hands of him who judges righteously;
Peter points his readers to the way Christ met insult and injury. Two questions follow. Why did the Lord stay silent when He could have answered? And what does it mean to hand a case over to God?
One writer walks through the steps Peter sets out, then names each trial where the Lord kept silent.
First, He did no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth. Secondly, He suffered, being reviled and threatened. Thirdly, when reviled, He took it patiently; He neither reviled nor threatened. In the presence of all His accusers His resource was in God. He committed Himself to Him that judges righteously. When falsely accused before the Jewish council, He "held His peace" (Matthew 26:63). When the Jews accused Him before Pilate, "He answered nothing." To Pilate himself, "He answered … never a word" (Matt. 27:12-14). The mocking Herod questioned Him in many words, "but He answered him nothing" (Luke 23:9). He was silent before men because He had a resource in God.
Silence can look like having nothing to say. One writer asks whether that was the case here.
If then He was silent, if He took no revenge on His enemies, was it that He had no resource? Far from it. His resource was not to insult His enemies and turn on those who attacked Him, but to turn to the Father in prayer. As He can say, "For my love they are my adversaries; but I give myself to prayer" (Ps. 109:4).
The first three things said of Him here are things He did not do. The last is something He did.
To do no sin, to speak no deceit, to keep silent when others speak malicious words, all have a negative character. This last step is positive. If we keep silent when insulted, it is not that evil and malice have no answer; it is that the answer is left with God. We are never to try to take vengeance on the wrongdoer. God keeps all vengeance in His own hands. He has said, "Vengeance belongs to Me, I will repay, says the Lord" (Hebrews 10:30).
The older wording in these quotes — "committed Himself," or "committed His cause" — is what the ESV renders "continued entrusting himself." One writer sees our example in how He met the power set over Him.
Our blessed Lord submitted to the power that came from God, and committed His cause "to Him that judges righteously"; and this is our example.
To commit a case to God is to leave the verdict with Him. One writer calls that rest, and a victory.
And then, in deepest confidence, "He committed Himself to Him who judges righteously." If the other statements showed His life by what He did not do, this one shows the constant rest of His soul in a positive way. His vindication was of God. Are we in the habit of making this committal? We gain a victory when we do so, for there the battle ends. His whole life was submission, hearty and unquestioning, to the will of the Father. This was His yoke, and it was easy. When we bow to that will through grace, we too prove the yoke easy and the burden light.
When the Jewish leaders called Him a Samaritan with a demon, He had the power to end the argument at once. His reply shows the same committal at work.
To think of Him, the Holy One of God, being attacked like this! Had He crushed them at once by His almighty power, who could have charged Him with injustice? But He showed He was the Son of God by His patience and His bearing with the Jews. Calmly and with an unruffled spirit He answered them, "I have not a demon; but I honour My Father, and you dishonour Me. And I seek not My own glory: there is One that seeks and judges" (49, 50). Little did they think how their accusation against Him was viewed on high. "He committed Himself to Him that judges righteously," wrote Peter.
This pattern changes what we aim at when others wrong us.
When people wrong us, and say hard, unkind and malicious things against us, our concern should not be to defend ourselves and maintain our rights, but to express Christ. As for any wrongs, we are to commit ourselves to Him that judges righteously. If we make Christ's interest our great concern, we can trust God to make our concerns His interest.
- Reviled — He met insult without insulting back. Before the council, Pilate and Herod, He answered nothing.
- Resource — The silence was not weakness. He had somewhere to go: He gave Himself to prayer.
- Committed — Three negatives, then one positive act. Evil does have an answer, but God gives it: He keeps all vengeance in His own hands.
- Vindicated — His vindication was God's business. When we make the same committal, the battle ends there.
- Copied — When wronged, aim to express Christ, not to defend your rights. Make His interest your concern, and God will make yours His.